#willfully stupid racists

[harmcityherald]

To save from having shouting matches I sit and listen to conspiracy bullshit from one of my right leaning youngers. I just sit and listen, maybe shake my head here and there. Ask me directly if I think any of this nonsense coming out of your mouth is real. Go on. I dare you. But you won't do that and I'm above having a fistfight because you believe Biden killed Anthony Bourdain and you wanna defend diddy and weinstien, because of course, they are the heroes that are next on the unalive list. What an absolute pop tart.

Since 2016, I have truly heard some of the most stupid conspiracy theories I've ever heard, I'm not talking about reading about it, I'm talking about right here and now and completely in my face. I can not fathom the absolute shit I hear and they believe. Looking at you, I see exactly what they want. An idiot ready to run off and do their bidding. They are laughing at you at the same time. I thought I raised you better than that.

Its not just stupid. Its industrial stupid. Like, I have just one question for you. If the orange leader of your white power cult told you to kill yourself........ Would you?

The fact that question occurs to me should speak volumes.

You were afraid to look at the eclipse. Jewish space lasers. The moon is hollow. The ananuki. (or however you spell that lunacy.) You break out in a sweat when you talk to me. That crap has you gripped so deeply I don't know if I'm going to be able to reach you again. You are jack black in mars attacks. (just let that sink in for a minute.)

I wish you would just revert to your old self, You know the one who never read a book? Because I'm here to tell you that whatever you're reading is twisting your melon. Yeah. I miss that guy. So do your kids. I mean sure you didn't read, but your heart seemed in the right place. Now? You're a pop tart.

Pop tarts for trump.

[vergess]

Quite liked this video, especially given the amount of indignant whiteness I've been stuck looking at WRT harry potter fanfic lately.

[boldlygoingtohell]

In a weird way, as a Jew, I can kinda take Normal Antisemitism™️.

I mean, I understand where right-wing racists are coming from when it comes to their antisemitism. At the end of the day, theirs just comes from fear, replacement theory, etc… It’s easily identifiable. 2+2=4. Yea its shitty, but I see how they got from A to B and it’s a straight line.

But left-wing antisemitism?? Like, how does that happen? I thought the left was about supporting minority groups, encouraging them to speak and be heard. But all I’m seeing from leftists these days (I myself being super fucking liberal, left, etc…) is just waves and waves of antisemitism. And yes it has to do with Israel, but these people are incapable of criticizing the Israeli government without going “all Jews are responsible!” in the process. It's infuriating.

Are all the the world’s Jews, millions of which live OUTSIDE of Israel, now responsible for Israel’s actions? I'M a stupid American! I’ve never even BEEN to Israel, much less know the intricate details of a geo-political conflict whose complexities go willfully unlearned by armchair activists in favor of yelling in all caps for 140 characters.

But what really gets me, and I mean REALLY get me about the whole situation, is the hypocrisy.

Remember how awful it was when we saw waves of Islamophobic hate crimes after 9/11, American Muslims with no ties to al-Qaeda being targeted for the faith those terrorists claimed to represent?

Or do you remember standing against the wave of anti-Asian hate crimes that was spurned on by COVID falsehoods? The “China virus” as Trump so eloquently put it? You remember being pissed about that, not blaming Asian Americans but standing with them against hate?

And hell, I’ve heard there has been a rash of Islamophobic attacks again because of the Israeli-Gaza conflict. That’s fucking awful, and I will stand against that bull shit because it does not belong here, end of story.

But now there are also antisemitic attacks, hate crimes, being perpetrated around the world. And who are the perpetrators now? The left that stood against everything else. There's no widespread ally-ship for Jews like me. There's no sweeping social media campaign, no catchy hashtag, no ice bucket challenge.

Why am I allowed to be condemned for what a country on the other side of the world is doing, when I have nothing to do with it? Why can I have the finger pointed at me when I don’t want the fighting in the first place? Why must Jews be allowed to be the target of this ire when it's already been decided that other ethnicities/religions don't deserve it either?

Now, I am PROUD to be Jewish; it is my culture, in my heritage, in my literal blood. It is in my genetics, my bones, my spoken language, it is in the holidays I celebrate, the philosophies I live by.

But it is also in the generational trauma of my mother insisting I have a passport as a young child, not because we were traveling, but in case we had to flee. It is in her inherent distrust of the government; a card-carrying Democrat all her life, she would always remind me, "if you don't think the government can't turn on you, you're kidding yourself." It is her constant reminders that as a Jew, our assimilation is conditional, our acceptance is political. I felt these, but never as strongly as she did. Not until now.

I am third generation American, and yet I feel like an outsider in the only country I have ever known. People who I thought understood, who were my friends, who marched with me against the injustices of the world, are now calling after Jews to answer for Israel's actions.

I say I don't want the violence to persist and I'm told that I'm, "one of the good ones". I'm told hurt Israelis don't deserve sympathy because, "all Jews are rich anyway, right? Who cares." I tell them my fears about the rising antisemitism and wearing my star of david necklace out. I'm told, "it doesn't matter, you're white anyway."

For the first time in my life, the racists aren't just some crazy KKK members. They're not just Nazis marching around with beer bellies and ill fitting helmets. It's not just some screeching street preacher who claims I'm going to hell after he caught the glint off my star of david necklace. If needs be, I can kick and punch my way out of those. They're just idiots. Isolated, concentrated incidents. It'd be a good story to tell at a bar the next day though a gap-toothed smile and a sling on my shoulder.

But now, both sides are coming after me and my people. Now, it's not just idiots who have all of their views backwards; it's people I thought I could trust to have my back, to go down swinging with me against those Nazis. Right. Left. It's everywhere. There's no escape.

It's coming from all sides. It's coming from social media platforms, from dinners with friends, from posters on street lamps.

I live in one of the safest, most Jewish neighborhoods in America, and for the first time in my life I am truly scared.

[glowpop]

There’s such an annoying trend of where when someone is pointing out a series or a work of fiction poorly handles its themes of racism or of anti colonialism or has racist stereotypes in it that go unchallenged means that people starts acting like that the criticism is coming only from sheltered white Americans living in the suburbs like it’s so willfully obtuse and dense you can’t help but want to throw a harpoon through the head of whoever’s saying stupid shit like “the only people who are complaint about this are white people!” harpoon through the head

[odinsblog]

Affimative action is racist towards black people and other PoC. It basically implies that PoC are stupid and can't accomplish anything without a leg-up.

STFU, you ignorant fucking orc.

Affirmative action implies no such thing.

Racists and their bootlicking familiars never have a problem with affirmative action unless and until it helps Black people.

“Meritocracy is a myth.

The United States was NOT built on a system of meritocracy. It was built on a system of DENIED ACCESS.

Let us not forget that a whole race of people was legally barred from learning to read in this country until 1865.” —Dr. Brittney Cooper

The wealth gap between Black people and white people in America was not an accidental creation. Generational wealth isn't something white people “earned” because of their hard work and meritorious behavior (are you fucking kidding me?).

And generational high unemployment & poverty in Black communities isn’t because of some inherent character flaw unique to Black people, or due to laziness. It's the result of an opportunity gap that was intentionally baked into the system, with pro-white, anti-Black government policies.

And Martin Luther King’s speech on how structural racism was/is governmental policy is always a relevant discussion.

Books like, “When Affirmative Action was White” help explain why bootstrap theory is an argument that only racists, the aggressively uninformed, or the willfully ignorant would believe—because it completely ignores how, for decades, the U.S. government intentionally and systematically denied Black people things like education, and land, and housing, and healthcare, and civil rights, and bootstraps and boots—all while ensuring that those same things were as easily accessible and as affordable as possible to white people.

Structural white privilege enforced by the police, the justice + education + healthcare systems, and by the U.S. government, is as real as bullets and bombs.

Affirmative action is an attempt to level one of thee most unequal playing fields in history.

Related:

👉🏿 https://ideas.time.com/2013/06/17/affirmative-action-has-helped-white-women-more-than-anyone/

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/134939222538/you-do-not-take-a-person-who-for-years-has-been

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/183430095049/affirmative-action-isnt-stealing-college-spots

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/165248195030/the-merit-card-is-the-white-equivalent-of-a-race

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/62853120572/just-work-hard-and-you-will-succeed-dispelling

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/721515231886622720/the-worst-thing-about-affirmative-action-

[the1975attheirverybest]

Matty Healy and Palestine

as many of you will have noticed, since the October 7 attacks and the subsequent Gazan crisis, I have, on a weekly basis, been receiving asks and DMs asking me to justify Matty’s silence on the matter. Furthermore, any time that I have criticized another celebrity or public figure (even on matters that have nothing to do with speaking up about Gaza) I have received “oh what about matty being silent about Palestine?” As a “rebuttal.” Let this be my official response ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Matty’s silence is disappointing to me.

His justification for his silence is, in my opinion, dumb and invalid. The argument that people shouldn’t look to him and Brittany Broski for political activism is reductive. It assumes all criticism of celebrities on the matter is performative. He is not the same as Broski and it’s either stupid or willfully dismissive (or both) of him to put himself and Broski in the same camp.

In my mind, whatever his reasons may be, it’s still disappointing.

I recognize that his current position might have something to do with the backlash he’s received this summer.

Personally, I don’t find that to be a legitimate argument for being silent but I respect it if that’s how he feels.

My disappointment in him with respect to this particular issue in no way negates what I belief about him: that he’s a good guy, that he stands up for what’s right, etc.

Nor do I think it erases his track record as an artist who is vocal about social politics and views his voice as part of his artistic identity.

I’m fine being disappointed with him and also being a fan. I don’t find those two things to be in conflict with one another.

I prefer to have a relationship with the artists that I love where I treat them as human beings. That includes not disposing of them the second that we have a disagreement.

What I do find odd, though, is people’s obsession with his silence. Gaza has been under attack for close to 100 days. So, for close to 100 days, there are those of you who woke up every week determined to ask me about this again and again and again and again….

It makes me wonder why? What about him falling short as a human being but still being worthy of respect really has your panties in a bunch like that?

Have you ever considered, instead of demanding an explanation of me, maybe putting that obsessive energy into calling your reps? Donating? Protesting?

Especially when, it would seem, I’m the only blog in 75blr who is consistently being pressed on this issue.

It’s starting to feel racist

I’m not your token Palestinian fan and don’t appreciate being treated as such.

I’m also not Matty’s spokesperson. PR manager, etc. so why is my opinion constantly questioned?

Again, it’s only me who’s getting those asks, and I have to wonder, are you all implying that I’m a bad fan? A bad Palestinian? Who the fuck are you to judge that? Tokenizing aspects of my identity that I’ve chosen to share online is an act of aggression. So I’m drawing a boundary here.

I will not be commenting on the whole “Matty’s silence on Palestine” issue any more. Please respect that.

[brazenautomaton]

Once again, every time I see someone shitting on Bioshock Infinite it makes me love the game more. It is a flawed game and obviously people hating it doesn’t actually make it better, but it is particularly infuriating how people proudly and willfully refuse to see what's right in front of their eyes. (Even non-political criticism of the game was largely, I think, in bad faith; it's the classic "overrated game" that most people think is overrated.) Not Burial At Sea though it sucks

the ending of burial at sea was hot garbage, "oh, it turns out she's responsible for the thing we already knew happened and already had an adequate explanation for."

also yes the political critique of bioshock infinite is incredibly stupid. like I see the same people doing it again and again, "wow, this game is so racist, it says the slaves are just as bad as the masters, wow what a neoliberal centrist take,"

I tell them that's how almost every revolution in history has gone and it's the single most accurate thing in the game, pointing to the hatian revolution as the best and most salient example

and they go "huh okay I GUESS they're off the hook" if they say anything

but then the next time the subject comes up the same people are saying the same thing.

this does not invalidate the real non-political criticism: that this is a story where the main characters are presented with a problem, and decide to solve it by shifting to an alternate universe where they already solved the problem.

[alpaca-clouds]

Of Christians and St. Paul

I have been venting about atheists recently, but I gotta vent about Christians, too. Like, I hate that the loudest Christians there are, are naturally those who do not give a fuck about the bible. Of course they claim to do and defend basically everything they do by cherry picking the bible, duh, but... they so clearly either have not read the entire thing or willfully misrepresent it.

Call me naive, but I kinda think that Christianity - if you call yourself a Christian - should be about Christ. That is Jesus. Meaning that for the most part the thing central to the religion should be the teachings of Jesus. And, well... As others have noted before, Jesus was a pretty leftwing guy. You know, the guy healing everyone, promoting living in poverty, saying that being rich was a sin, who supported sex workers and queer folks. Like, you know, as someone who has read the thing: Jesus was not like perfect. He also was fairly racist against some minorities within Galilae back then. Though he would still help the people from that minority, though he did so while venting about them. But all in all he is very much more basically the antithesis to any rightwing politics - and the politics of either the megachurches or the Catholic church for that matter.

Having grown up Catholic, I would so often think how appalled Jesus would be about all the gold and rare stones and what not presented in churches. That was like completely opposite to his teachings.

But the big thing is also that... you know. All the hateful stuff self-proclaimed Christians keep defending with their "religious freedom" is also quite opposite of the teachings of Jesus - and at times opposite of the entire fucking bible.

You know, the bible doesn't have an opinion on trans people. But this idea that Christians keep saying about it like that god made us perfect and that we should be thankful for our bodies very much is something the bible does not say.

Jesus also hung out with people that were considered queer at their time. And when you reference the old testament, you also should keep in mind that Jesus outright says "abandon the old teachings".

Oh, and another big stuff that modern Christians keep whining about is the entire abortion thing. But... Actually the bible is fairly clear that yeah, life starts at the first breath and not a moment earlier. Becuase it was believed in the ancient world, that the soul would only enter the body with that first breath.

Most of the hate those so called Christians keep spreading either goes back to the old testament or - even more commonly - to the letters written by Paul. Paul mind you, who was not an apostle or deciple of Christ, who also was not a prophet. He was just one of the earliest followers of the religion and helped to establish the religion in Rome.

I always keep saying, a lot of the "It is my religious freedom to discriminate" folks are actually followers of Paul, not of Jesus. And yeah, Paul was a horrible person. He was misogynist, he was ableist, he was racist and he was queerphobic. But again, he just was an early follower of the religion.

Like, the only reason why his stupid letters are in the bible is, because of political reasons. Because the bishops who decided on the canon wanted to defend their fucking hate against everyone else.

And I am sorry, but if you don't fucking care about what Jesus does say... Well, I am sorry, then you are not a Christian in my point of view.

[calebnichols]

Coming back to elaborate a little on the tags I left on THIS POST, none of what I said was to defend some asinine notion that Breaking Bad doesn't have moments of unrealistic, stupid or willfully ignorant writing. But specifically the moment that the post was referring to wherein Hank Schrader launches an investigation into the J.P. Wynne High School chemistry lab after finding a mask that belongs to the school at the site of a meth cooksite and winds up arresting the school janitor is very intentionally written.

Schrader questions Walter White about missing inventory from the chemistry lab. White tries to play it off like he didn't even know anything was missing and Hank soon ends up arresting the janitor, Hugo Archilleya, instead. In Hank and the rest of the DEA's "reasoning", Hugo vaguely fits the profile their investigators have come up with. He's quiet and soft-spoken, mainly keeps to himself, has access to the school campus after-hours/during non-working hours, and had a minor drug possession charge prior. We as the audience know that Hugo is innocent in this and that Walter White is the one behind everything to do with the cook site at Tohajillee, but Hank Schrader is a racist loudmouth and sees Walter as kind of a meek but respectable type of man who would never even think of breaking a law. Another post that does an excellent job of analyzing that episode can be found HERE.

As for an example of writing that is built on racist ideology in what was likely an unintentional way, meaning that the writers may have written the scenes without thinking about the implications that it might have concerning how THEY view POC, I'd be thinking more along the lines of: Any latine character Jesse Pinkman comes into contact with who is introduced and then harmed or killed off solely for the purpose of making him suffer throughout the narrative. Particularly the Cantillo family, with Tomas's death in season 3, Brock's poisoning in season 4, and Andrea's death in season 5.

[taptrial2]

one of the things i take umbrage with in the ongoing conversation about kids' cartoons and widening one's interests is that one of the Main Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder is having very narrow interests. i would love to widen my interests but unfortunately it is very hard to keep my attention when i'm lost in the special interest sauce and it makes me feel ashamed. y'know?

i realize this is a conversation about media literacy as well. someone who has only watched/primarily only watches children's media will have a distorted view of what art can be and what a 10/10 is to them will look very different due to a lack of perspective. i engage with media for adults often, but my special interests tend to lean towards family/kid entertainment for miscellaneous reasons. so you will see me primarily posting about those.

i find it odd that it is now the cool thing on tumblr to shame people for enjoying kids' media. i know that what a lot of people are talking about is people discoursing about kids' shows like they are as gravely serious as real life politics, but even that seems very dismissive to me because a lot of posts about "taking kids' media too seriously" involves stuff like steven universe

people seem to forget that the (left wing) backlash towards steven universe was spearheaded by people of color speaking up about the show's pervasive racism problem. this group of people was widely mocked by steven universe fans AND the general tumblr populace because a game of telephone turned the conversation into "people are mad that steven universe didn't kill people" (true but also a different conversation and the folks who bring this up are often [justifiably] ignorant to the original criticisms because they are not interested in discoursing about children's cartoons [which is fine but dismissing cartoons as 'for kids' and thus not worth talking about when they are racist because they are considered kiddie schlock is irresponsible])

i understand that because of a general disinterest in things for children when you are an adult, you don't care engage with discourse about things for children, and that is sensible and normal. i just find it odd that children's cartoons are frequently dubbed "stupid to talk about in a meaningful way" because they are for children. kids will absorb the values of what they watch. it is important to dissect and think critically about shows popular with not only children but uncritical adults and what exactly that content is doing to the brains of people who watch it.

i agree that people treating bluey or steven universe as the Best Things To Ever Happen To Media are most likely out of touch or even willfully ignorant to the greater landscape of media. however, i think it is an unspoken truth that a lot of people who gush uncritically about these things are people with autism, adhd, etcetera and one must take into account the consequences of mocking this group of people for having narrow interests that consequently affect their view of the world in some way or another.

it is silly when someone who has only watched the owl house (a good cartoon) for the last few years insists that it is the best thing to ever happen to media and is the only show worth watching. it is disrespectful and generally unhelpful to liken real life atrocities to fiction, to insist that this is Just Like That Show You Watched Ha Ha when the thing in question is about a real person or group of people subject to real harm.

but when i see posts that are "ha ha why adult watch bluey and spend time on internet talk about bluey so much so weird weirdos! get life and watch big boy movies" it pisses me off. come on. cmon.

[96percentdone]

I loved Glass Onion and I genuinely think the movie slaps 10/10 but I woke up asking myself "why did the disrupters side with Miles in the first place." None of them have ever liked him, they all also know he's a stupid bitch, and while I'm sure he was bankrolling their needs to be successful, Alpha wasn't exclusively his for a long time, so she must have played a role in that, right? But it's obvious. It's because he's a white guy, with all the privilege in the world, and they assumed that because he was stupid they could use him to get/stay ahead, only realizing too late that this changed NOTHING about the system, so they still have to live with the consequences of it. More about just. Like. The entire movie. Under the cut.

Miles seems good at building an image and making connections; the one thing we see him achieve is convincing the world at large he is smarter than he is through outright lies, and even people who know he's an idiot believe his smaller lies with ease because they find his idiocy un-threatening. It just doesn't occur to them he could willfully fuck them over or act maliciously. Hence, Andi lets him into her home the night she dies; Blance says Andi was not afraid of Miles, and like...this is why. His image to the disrupters is of that idiot (who all except maybe Andi DO NOT LIKE) with ideas sometimes, so there's no way he would lie or kill, and they need him around. I think its significant that everyone else in the disrupters is in some way oppressed either through misogyny (Claire, Birdie) or race (Lionel, Duke), or both (Andi); Miles is a moron with like no creative merit of his own, but he has every privilege, so people are just more willing to believe and support things if he's backing them.

Now, we don't see a lot of Andi, but by contrast, from what we do see she's quite professional, brilliant, a little mysterious, even if she's also congenial. She has so many things going for her, and in a just world people like investors or businessmen or even just friends and strangers would see those things for what they are. Now I think anyone finds professionalism a little intimidating no matter who it's from, but because we live in a racist and misogynistic society, a black woman who carries herself with dignity and competence and assurance is inherently going to be received worse, far worse no matter her achievements, merits, or skills.

So....when push comes to shove, they choose Miles, and cut her out. They might face oppression on some axis or another, but they each have some privilege over Andi, and Miles? Well, he's an idiot, right? To paraphrase Birdie: he's a thing in their hands they can use. He's not a threat. But they're wrong. Miles is an idiot, that much is true, but he has all the power over them, and they gave him more of it. They don't have any other option now except TO depend on him, and cater to his needs and whims, and suffer the consequences of his actions, because without him, they lose everything.

Over the years of their alliance, they started believing they were equal to him, because they know they're the ones with real talent (even Birdie has some talent, it's just like nowhere near traditional intelligence), that they forgot they came as far as they did because of him. Not his skills or merits, but because he's good at looking a certain way to an audience by nature: because he was born a white guy. And now he's a billionaire white guy who pays for all their endeavors. They need him; he does not need them. More than once the movie establishes his 100000 connections he has now: they're replaceable. He could cast them out at any moment like he did with Andi, and it would mean nothing. He killed Duke on paranoid impulse because Duke meant nothing to him.

I think it makes a fun contrast between Helen and Blanc, another instance of an extremely marginalized person (a working class black woman) allying with a fairly well off white guy. She needs his help, because to her, he has skills she does not have, or so she thinks, although she also recognizes what he really has that she doesn't. Though she believes she's not very good at investigating or detective work, she gets a lot accomplished by herself, even before contacting him. She may be less experienced at it than the guy who is a detective for his own job, but she isn't less capable, something Blanc points out often throughout the movie. While Blanc's experience is definitely useful, his real asset is his privilege and larger voice. And that's where the contrast lies.

Miles is constantly just telling the other disrupters what they have to do, and bullying them into making bad deals, or screwing people over, because he can! He has that power! He does not think or consider anyone beyond himself and his own ambitions; it's all about him. The scene with Peg comes to mind. But Blanc is constantly asking Helen what she would like to do, and if she wants to back out. He supports her capability and never downplays it or insists he knows better or more than her, except when he tries to get her to stop drinking, which is born out of concern for her well being and the danger she could put herself in. He gives Helen the tools she needs to get the justice she deserves and steps aside. The whole movie he is giving her the reins. He knows he has privilege, and that's what she needs most from him, not his skills.

Helen takes Miles down through her own merits. She does most of the investigative work, finds most of the relevant clues, understands many of the plans without being told and even comes up with her own, and carries out justice on her own terms. It's her story. Blanc is just the support. Their allyship is born from respect and mutual understanding, while the disrupters never respected Miles, and he never did them. The disrupters (bar Andi) were all using one another to get ahead, and gain/sustain their power, without caring about anyone else, and inevitably that backfires on them. You can't save yourself from systemic oppression by attempting to use it to pull yourself up. You're still just playing the game that way, not escaping it. Leeching off someone's systemic privilege does not give you their power; it gives them power over you. It reinforces the system in a way where you get ahead, but they're never going to end up on top.

Helen does. Because she took the system and burnt it to the ground. She can't get what she deserves if she plays by their rules and their game, so she never does. She constantly challenges and undermines it, and so she wins. She has support that enabled her to do so, but its on her terms, and he steps aside to let her.

There are those like Miles who don't even understand the how and why they're on top and assume its their own merits but its actually just an intangible structure entirely beyond their control built off the backs of other people, and those like the disrupters and Peg and Whiskey who believe they can use the system to get themselves the power and privilege they want without changing anything or caring about anyone else but ultimately still suffer and live under it. There are those like Andi who hope that playing by the rules with integrity and merit will win the day even if it never could (Andi), and there are the ones see everything for what it is. The ones who see their privilege and use it to either empower those who need it to change without taking credit or control, like Blanc, and of course...the ones that that action. People like Helen who know better than anyone else exactly what's wrong, and will do anything and everything they can to put an end to it.

Idk. I don't know if I said anything new. I'm sure most people who watched the movie had a lot of the same thoughts. Also I'm white so many nuances specific to race specifically likely escaped me. I just kinda wanted to articulate some of the feelings I had, even if they've been said millions of times before.

[vergess]

I've seen less that it's fake and more as in posts circulating that say things like "if i hear you say "hopepunk" again i'll spit on you like a divorced construction worker. learn fear, bitch."

Yeah yeah, people are always convinced that you smile because you're stupid, not because you looked a racist man with a gun in the eyes, told him you could shoot faster, and watched the fear leak out his pants.

I'm not saying it's exclusively white people who talk that kind of shit.

But you have to be willfully goddamn STUPID to think that choosing to work together for a greater good is ~pissbaby bullshit~.

That's the immaturity of someone still too fixated on their own pain to realize that other people are real.

You want to punch me in the eye for daring to hope? Congratulations, shitsucker, you and every other pig-cop on the planet.

But I will hope anyway.

Hope is the gravest terror at the bottom of the box, the end of all things, the end of your empire.

HOPE TEARS THROUGH THE SPINE OF FEAR

YOUR COWARDICE IS NOT MY DOWNFALL.

[rigginsstreet]

Sometimes I get so mad that Billy antis watched season 2 where Lucas stalked Max and then he, Dustin and Mike got offended and angry when she told them to stop then watched Billy while he implies to Max that his dad beat him for having of color friends and warned her not to hang out with Lucas after he watched Lucas follow her for an entire day (I would also tell a younger sibling to not hang around with someone who yells at you for setting personal boundaries and makes out that you're a bad person for not wanting those boundaries violated but that's just me) and decided that Neil isn't racist and Billy is? I don't see any of them complaining about the fact that Lucas was made a villain for half of season 4 or that someone tried to murder him with their bare hands or that a guy was sent to r*pe and murder Erica. No one called out Mike for his racist jokes in S1/2 they don't complain about the fact that Dustin is often overly rude to him or how they thought he was weird for taking what happened in s2 to heart and changing how he treated Max offscreen. Why didn't we get to see Max and Lucas' relationship develop but we get Mike losing it over Eleven developing interest in being something other than the girl locked in his basement. No Billy yelling at Lucas after he accidentally helped Steve kidnap Max and pretending that he would run over him is the worst thing anyone has ever done to Lucas. We all know the Duffer brothers doubled down on Billy being a racist after everyone called them out for Lucas's storylines and how they made him behave in season 2. It wasn't exactly subtle timing. Sorry for ranting.

i dont know that anyone was out here tryna rape erica. granted i did not watch season 4 but.... i dont know that that was what was happening

but regardless of that, its lack of media literacy on the audience's part. everyone has failed english and fully bought into the notion that so long as a protagonist says its correct, then so it shall be. like this is precisely why so often old media is looked back on and we're like "oh, hey, this was kinda fucked up actually". its perspective. and the stranger things audience lacks the hell out of it.

contrary to popular belief, the writers are not god. and you actually have to take into consideration WHY they chose to frame things the way they did. billy is a character thats written because they needed a villain. they literally said themselves they wanted a "human villain". and it was supposed to be steve but that failed so they created billy. and thus decided to put all this shit on him, despite it actually making no narrative sense and you dont need a microscope to see it. like its laid out plain as day. there is such a lack of follow through and blatant contradictions between how billy is meant to be viewed and what is actually taking place in his interactions with other characters. antis are just willfully ignorant. must be nice going through life that stupid but i dont share that experience so fuck me i guess.

[delioncourtes]

why do you people think you get to dictate who taylor dates lmao, she doesn't owe you anything. that's her private life and you stay out of it

oh lord...

this isn't about trying to dictate who she dates, i'm very aware that i have no control over what she does and i'm not someone who ever particularly cared about her private life. what i do have control over is who i support, with my money and time and energy, and I don't think i need to justify why i don't want to support someone who decided to date a racist, sexist, bigoted pile of human garbage, and who then very publicly paraded said pile of human garbage around without a care in the world for the people his actions and words have hurt. that's a very conscious choice she made, and to me, that says a lot about her.

if she actually had any integrity and was the person she claimed to be and sold to her fans, she wouldn't associate with people like him in the first place and then put that relationship out there for the whole world to see. by doing that, she basically said she doesn't give a shit, and fans get to decide what to do with that. if you're fine with it...okay? i guess? but this is where i personally draw the line.

listen. i've defended her when i didn't think she deserved to be attacked and i still stand by that. but while i've side eyed her for quite a lot of bullshit (especially her brand of white feminism), i now realize i also flat out ignored some things because i've been a fan for like 15 years and she did mean quite a lot to me...things i definitely shouldn't have ignored, and it makes me feel stupid as hell and, quite frankly, ashamed, but that's entirely on me because i chose (and wanted) to believe what she was selling me.

but this whole situation finally broke the spell; she's enabled a person whose behavior and beliefs go against everything i believe in and stand for, so i simply can't, in good conscience, keep supporting her when she's now very clearly shown me who she really is. i can't willfully turn a blind eye and then still look at myself in the mirror and be happy with who i am.

so yeah, i guess you're right, she doesn't owe me shit...but vice versa, I don't owe her anything either, certainly not my unconditional support.

[radio-charlie]

There were a few things i wanted to do in solidarity with Malaysian-South-Asians but walao. After putting everything on the table and realising you would just be shouting to a willfully deaf room scared of getting tainted by association (the same ppl who gossiped abt me being a "russian asset" are now outrussianasseting me. Oh the hilarity). Despite intent remaining, my body and brain can only take so much overall. And I have a bunch of other things to figure out.

Yes, do not use that slur, do not enable people to say it. But then, outside of language, what are we going to do? Ok la then - let's say people stop saying the k word. But they still limit Malaysian-South-Asians from basic necessities. A decent place to live, jobs with liveable wages and healthy environments. The chance to go one's whole life without seeing the inside of a police station. Etc.

What then?

This hyperfocus on correctness of language. It's not enough. I fucking hate it and think it's idiotic lol. Malaysian-South-Asians are not stupid for getting mad at the cavalier way other ethnicities toss racist slurs around. They are the ones bearing the pain for god knows how many generations. We are the stupid ones for thinking that Getting People To Not Say Slurs should be the thing we fire our gears up the most for.

Just admit la. Slurscourse lets you feel like a real activist, an actual social justice warrior as opposed to a social justice copywriter lol. Because you just yell from your computer chair and the work is done. The nitty gritty of it - showing up to talk to people even when it is humiliating and difficult, organising aid, raising awareness through preparing accessible and engaging material - these things you all never have the time to do. Oh no. I'm depressed. I have adhd. Lol.

So here we are still, in the year 2023. Syabas. Merry Christmas.

[yesloulou]

I think the whole ‘I don’t watch the news’ thing was an answer given because he obviously hadn’t been expecting to be asked about it and give an answer on it. It was a stupid answer and he absolutely should’ve given a better one but. Yes it very disappointing but be realistic if many people (including some of the drivers) were asked, you wouldn’t know how to respond.

People also have to be aware that you can’t keep up to date with everything happening all over the world, it tough but it’s true. I used to watch the news most days at some point last year and now I don’t because I have a job.

I do think as people with platforms should use their platforms but even at that I don’t think it’s as easy as that. Seb and Lewis were/are able to do what they do because they are multiple wdc and had/have job security in their teams. Other drivers do not have this and that needs to be acknowledged.

In saying that, we all saw Daniel in 2020, we’ve heard the way Lewis talked about Daniel talking to him, asking what he could do etc so I do think it’s in him. Has to be noted that he has been the gutter for the past few years and is getting himself out now. I don’t want it to seem like I’m defending and absolving him just want to point out not everything is clear cut and black and white

context. also this was about these tags im pretty sure

i totally agree with the question being very unexpected and challenging ("how important is it that drivers use their platforms to discuss human right issues in this country?"), but i think that's exactly why he wasn't able to come up with a PR answer and ended up giving a truthful one ["i think if (you're gonna use your platform), it's important to know what you're talking about, but i don't really watch the news"]. you can just tell he was telling the truth and was embarrassed by it. and like if he had anything else to say there's no way he would have resorted to 'i don't really watch the news'.

honestly, i understand what he meant by 'not watching news makes me feel better about my day'. learning about conflicts adds stress and he's free to choose to not want that in his life. and like, for someone who cares the way he cares, i do see the point of limiting the information he takes in. my issue is not really with that.

also i appreciate your reasoning (daniel didn't have the capacity to advocate bc of lack of job security) bc it's nice to see how much we all love him and want to think the best of him (i mean it). But let's be honest, if he has the time to run his merch brand, he has the time to advocate for causes he believes in. that being said, i don't think someone is obligated to advocate for anything just because they have the platform. it would ofc be nice if they do, but they are (everybody is) free to live their lives however they want to. imo they don't owe the society anything just bc they're famous. so like, my issue is not with that either.

I do dislike that he acknowledged that by choosing not to watch the news he might be a little ignorant, and he was fine with that bc at the end of the day he brought at least some joy and positivity to the place and no harm done. essentially, what he was saying was that, he chose not to watch the news so there was no causes he felt strongly enough to discuss using his platform. to me that's a little disappointing. but i don't think of it as a matter of principle bc even though daniel seems to be practicing this ignorance is a bliss thing, he's not oblivious (ie willfully ignorant, where one'd actively ignore what they're aware of). and that's a big difference. for example, he straightforwardly said 'racist people are no friends of mine' to nelson piquet making racist comments about lewis last year. and among all the PR statements lots of drivers and teams put out, daniel's stood out bc it was clear-cut and personal. imo it's obvious daniel isn't how he, by saying what he said about news, came off to be. and as long as it's not a matter of principle i'm not really concerned.

anyways. ik im explaining a lot of things here but it's really bc i want to do it well to not reopen discourse. ty for sending this ask! 🖤